As I sit at home thinking about my upcoming adventure and the things I need to bring, it makes me even more excited to begin my travel. I will be making my way around the world.
The first places on the list are Andalusia and Africa in the book The Alchemist. I will need to pack a lot of things and make sure I have enough money to provide myself with food and enough to drink. The Sahara desert is always hot and requires plenty of water.
Next I will head to Mexico in the book Born to Run, where I will meet the Tarahumara Indian tribe(部落). I will need to get into shape and do some jogging(慢跑) if I want to keep up with them. I will have to pack my running shoes, though, because the Tarahumarans have mastered the art of running on the tough land.
After Mexico, my journey takes me to the Egyptian desert in the novelThe Paris Vendetta. There I hope to help uncover an ancient conspiracy (阴谋) that goes back centuries. Just like my trip to Andalusia, I will have to make sure I have plenty of water. Packing the Camelbak products seems like the best idea, so I will have enough on hand at all times. I expect this adventure to be quite interesting, and I am very excited about it.
Lastly, I will make my way back to America in the book Shattered: Struck Down, But Not Destroyed. This makes me feel excited because like the main character in the book, I also wanted to become a professional athlete when I was younger. For this trip, I will go with an open mind and hopefully meet some friends along the way.
I am ready to embark on my adventure of traveling, and I cannot wait any longer!
【小题1】How will the author go on adventure?

On Saturday August 12, 2000, during Northern Fleet training exercises in the Barents Sea, the Russian nuclear submarine(潜水艇) Kursk sank in about 100 meters of water with some 118 sailors aboard. It's known later that several officers were also aboard, observing the training exercises. The Kursk is lying on the ocean floor in the Barents Sea. The Russian Navy said that it was listing 30 degrees to port. Other sources reported it was listing as much 60 as degrees. According to a Russian newspaper, when the submarine Kursk failed to make contact with the naval command at the right time later that day, Northern Fleet Commander Admiral Vyachesav Popov ordered rescue ships into the area. It took hours to find the submarine, as it didn't launch(发射) a marking buoy(浮) before sinking.

Russian Navy Chief insisted that the submarine Kursk had been involved(卷入) in a major collision(碰撞), but a great deal of information shows that this is not true. Up till now, it's believed that an explosion in the torpedo compartment(鱼雷舱) in the nose of the Kursk was the likely cause. Now Russian government officially asked Norway for help in recovering of sailors' bodies first of all, and Norway has agreed to offer all help. But Russian insisted that only Russians work inside the submarine Kursk and that the work last for about 10～18 working days. It is expected to recover only 25～35 bodies from the Kursk.

It was not until October 25, when a team of Russian divers entered the submarine Kursk, some 350 feet below the surface, that truth became clear. On November 7, in the morning, owing to(由于)  the icy and the cold weather, a special rescue meeting held on Murmansk decided to stop the whole bodies recovering operation.

From the text we can infer that _______ led to the sinking of the submarine Kursk.

A. a small fighting with another foreign submarine

B. an explosion inside the submarine Kursk

C. a great collision inside the submarine Kursk

D. an attack from another foreign submarine

After Kursk accident occurred, Northern Fleet Commander Popov _______.

A. decided to recover all the sailors' bodies immediately

B. went to apply to Norway for help at once

C. decided to find out the real cause of sinking at once

D. sent several rescue ships into the Barents Sea

Which of the following is NOT true according to the text?

A. The Norwegians were willing to offer all help.

A. If the rescue work did within 10～18 days, there would be about 30 sailors to be recovered.

B. It was not believed that there were many unclear weapons inside the Kursk.

C. A team of divers from Norway entered the submarine Kursk successfully on Oct. 25

D. It's reported that a major collision was unlikely to cause the sinking of the Kursk.

Why did Russia insist that only Russian divers can work inside the submarine Kursk?

A. Because the Barents Sea is very icy and the weather is too cold.

B. Because Russia feared that the top secrets inside the Kursk will be let out.

C. Because Russian divers are much more skilled than those from Norway.

D. Because Russian government wants to bring the cost down to the lowest degree.

The underlined words “make contact with” in the first paragraph refers to the idea that the submarine Kursk can't_______.

A. get in touch after much effort with the naval command

B. send up the nuclear weapons in the training exercises

C. get the naval officers to return to the Northern Fleet

D. get in touch after much effort with Russian government

At the Qiantang River on September 24^th last year, the tidal bore, a name for a large column of water produced by the tide, _____ as high as 1．9 metres,       the start of the autumn flood period of the liver．

For the person keeping a journal, whatever he experiences and wants to hold he can write down. But to get it down on paper begins another adventure. For he has to focus on what he has experienced, and to be able to say what, in fact, the experience is. What of it is new? What of it is remarkable because of associations in the memory it stirs up? It is a good or bad thing to have happened? And why, specifically? The questions multiply  (增多) themselves quickly. As one tries to find the words that best represent this discovery, the experience becomes even clearer in its shape and meaning.
Beyond the value of the journal as record, there is the value of the discipline it teaches. The journalist begins to pay closer attention to what happened to and around himself. He develops and sharpens his skills of observation. He learns the usefulness of languages as a means of representing what he sees, and gains skill and certainty in the expression of his experiences. To have given up one’s experience to words is to have begun marking out the limits and potential of its meaning. In the journal that meaning is developed and clarified (澄清、阐明) to oneself. When the intention of the development of that meaning is the consideration of another reader, the method of the journal redirects itself and it becomes the essay.
【小题1】According to the author, keeping a journal is good for ________.

Mothers can still offer comfort, even from a distance, a new study has found. The results show that simply hearing their mothers’ voice over the phone works just as well at calming the nerves of stressed children as a real-life pat on the shoulder.
The soothing（抚慰的）effect is most likely due to the release of the hormone（荷尔蒙）, oxytocin（催生素）, in the brain, the researchers say. This “love hormone” is known to quell stress and is likely to be involved in social connections, including those between a mother and a child.
Previous work has revealed that this hormone is released during physical contact with a mother. “But it’s clear from these results that a mother’s voice can have the same effect as a hug, even if she isn’t actually standing there,” said the researcher, Leslie Seltzer, a biological scientist.
Seltzer tested a group of 61 girls, aged 7 to 12, by having them make an unprepared speech and solve a series of maths problems in front of a group of strangers, sending their hearts racing and levels of cortisol—a hormone associated with stress—soaring.
Facing a challenge like that raises stress levels of a lot of people. Once stressed, a third of the girls were comforted in person by their mothers with hugs. A third of the girls watched an emotionally neutral 75-minute video. The rest were handed a telephone with their mothers on the line.
For the girls who interacted in person or over the phone with their mothers, the levels of the “love hormone” rose significantly, and the stress-marking hormone was washed away. This effect didn’t show up for participants who watched the video.
Seltzer is now testing the amount of oxytocin released with other communication methods—like text messaging—and hopes to see the research spread out from human subjects. “It’s not just us, of course. Lots of very social species have voices,” she said. “on the one hand, we are curious to see if this effect is unique to humans. On the other, we’re hoping researchers who study vocal communication will consider looking at oxytocin release in other animals and apply it to broader questions of social behavior and evolutionary biology.
【小题1】Mothers’ voice over the phone can reduce children’s nerves according to the study, because           .